


Going Astray

by onnari



Category: Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24062398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onnari/pseuds/onnari
Summary: Cloud, more human disaster than not, ends up adopting a cat. Tifa is maybe rightly concerned, but things go (mostly) to plan.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Comments: 12
Kudos: 105





	Going Astray

**Author's Note:**

> When you laugh at Cloud for being truly terrible with cats you get an inkling of an incredibly silly fic. But when you realize that Cloud was glad that Tifa at least had that cat to hold onto after the plate fell, you admit defeat and just write the thing.

_Hey, can you come over?_ Cloud texts Tifa after only a solid five minutes and just as many checks of punctuation and syntax. It is something of an accomplishment and maybe even a record.

 _Sure, five minutes?_ She texts back from just down the hall. Which should give him enough time to gather his thoughts, but it’s still her who pieces everything together the moment she steps into his apartment and sees the young animal there, a speckled black and white cat with a killer glare.

“You got a cat?” Tifa asks incredulously. It looks at her for all of one second before bolting away, practically wiping out in its haste.

It’s not exactly how Cloud had hoped this first meeting would go, but he’ll admit there’s a little relief in knowing he’s not the only one it will up and vanish on.

“Yeah,” he says, crossing his arms at her strange look. With quick steps she tracks the cat to where it’s hiding underneath his bed and drops down to softly call to it in greeting. Cloud leans back against the wall, pleased to see a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth, after all. “Why’s that so surprising?”

“You have to admit you’re kind of terrible with them. You can’t even pick one up.”

Cloud frowns, subtly covering up the scratch marks that line his arm. “And that’s on them. Besides,” he glances at her, “you like cats, don’t you?”

“What?” she asks, turning back towards him even as the cat cautiously peeks its head out.

“Huh?” he says, just as surprised to have her attention fully on him again.

“What does my liking or not liking cats have to do with anything? It’s your cat, Cloud.”

“Uh…right.” So maybe he had passed a pet adoption event, unable to walk away when the staffers had called out to him, making him take a look at their rescue cats. Had even let himself buy into the idea that owning one could help him out in the way that pets sometimes do when people are feeling restless or a little lost, especially in a new place.

It absolutely wasn’t like he’d also gotten the cat with Tifa in mind or anything, thinking of the low spirits she’d been in lately, the neighborhood in dire straits and people splintering off. How she’d held Wedge’s cat just the other night, a source of comfort when Cloud is still frustratingly terrible at stepping up in the way he knows he should. Wondering if she may want to spend time with the cat and him in the future. Because that part would be a little too pathetic, even for him.

“What’s his name?” Tifa asks helpfully, moving him on from his own self-pity party.

“Dipper.”

“Huh,” she says.

“What now?”

“Nothing. Just an interesting choice of name.” She calls Dipper out softly by name, but still he doesn’t budge. When she offers her hand, he swipes more than sniffs at it, and she quickly pulls it back.

Cloud waves his arm defensively. “I didn’t choose the name. That was his name already, and I wasn’t going to change it on him.”

“Okay, fair enough. But why go for this one?” She pauses, glancing back down at the crouched animal. “I mean, he’s lovely,” Tifa says as diplomatic as ever, going so far as to give the wary cat an encouraging smile. “But also… he does not seem like a good starter cat. Come to think of it, how did you even get him here?”

He points to his crate. “The shelter took care of all that. I didn’t know where to start, and they seemed desperate to get this one into a home. No one else would take him, and I couldn’t exactly say... no.”

She looks at him, fond, and he shifts.

“And they trusted a new pet owner to be able to handle him?”

“They seemed convinced I wouldn’t be fazed by something like a cat.”

“Okay, I can see the reasoning, but that’s where they’re wrong. You’ll get more stressed over this than anyone.” Tifa actually laughs and maybe this idea of his really will work.

But then she goes soft, studying him properly, her expression too concerned for his liking—the exact opposite of what he’d been going for, trying to get her to stress and worry less.

“Hey,” she says, “are you doing okay? Making an impulsive decision like this isn’t really like you.”

Which only makes his whole dilemma around her even more embarrassing when she can just ask him things like that without needing a whole convoluted step process and cat ownership plan.

“Yeah,” he says. “But I think this may be good. For both of us.” And if she thinks he means the cat and him, all the better probably. He hopes he may actually be good for it, too. “I might need some help though.”

Tifa considers, then holds a finger up to him. “Okay, but it’s on you in the end. You can’t just adopt a cat and not step up.”

He gives her a ghost of a smile, appreciative. “Wasn’t planning on it.”

And in some ways, the cat and him actually do get on well. Whatever instinct Cloud lacks when it comes to physical affection, Dipper seems to also be missing. The only time he lets his guard down is at night when he takes to curling up on Cloud’s chest, breath rumbling in his chest in a way that actually helps more than anything with Cloud’s insomnia. But in the morning it’s back to being sworn enemies, Cloud agonizing over getting out of bed without becoming entirely covered in scratches.

Dipper’s aloofness is a bit of a disappointment too when Tifa comes around to spend some time with them, the cat refusing to budge and ignoring every toy she tries to entice him with.

“Don’t keep wasting your money,” he tells her. The only thing Dipper enjoys, really, is his laser pointer, and each new piece of trash he goes feral over, knocking it about during his nightly zoomies.

Tifa decides to reach out to him when he finally calms down, trying to hold him in a way Cloud never even bothers to, fearing the repercussions. Even Tifa isn’t immune to his wrath, Dipper quick to lash out at her with his overgrown nails.

Tifa closes her eyes, biting down on her lip, and Cloud’s on his feet, reaching for something for the scratch, before he realizes it’s only a laugh she’s holding back. “Definitely your cat,” she tells him.

When he still forces the disinfectant and band-aid on her, she sobers. “Hey, I’m fine,” she says, hand gentle on his arm as she points out his own scratch marks. “You even half as careful with your own cuts?”

He just shrugs.

She sighs. “You’ve got to cut those nails. They’re practically murder weapons.”

“I know,” he says, losing out to a grimace, “but he absolutely hates it.”

“So you’re just going to let him kill you instead?”

“I’m working on it,” Cloud says, growing frustrated and for nothing, he knows. “If nothing else I’ll have the vet do it when I take him in for his check-up.”

And it seems like a good, sensible plan until it does not stop Dipper the Dipshit from tearing up Cloud’s apartment in the meantime.

In the height of the chaos Cloud reaches for his phone without thinking, and it rings five times before the call goes through to the sound of clattering and then Tifa’s voice. “What should I do if he’s scratching up the walls?” he asks immediately. “I’m already on thin ice with Marle. She’s going to kill me.”

“Marle isn’t going to kill you,” Tifa soothes. “You’re growing on her.”

“Sure, as long as you keep saying good things about me. But back to the cat.”

“Have you tried asking Wedge?”

“I trust you more.”

“Cloud,” she says firmly, but it’s after a telling pause. “Wedge looks after a whole legion of strays. I’ve never even owned a single cat.”

“Still trust you more. There’s that one stray that always comes to you at Seventh Heaven. And you’ve never even tried to draw it out like Wedge.”

“Am I supposed to find this flattering? I still can barely pick up your cat without being killed.”

“That’s just because he’s a monster.” And as if he’s determined to prove it, Dipper launches at the wall again, knocking over a lamp in the process. He’s pretty sure Tifa can hear the fallout from down the hall. Panicked, he says, “Tifa, just—can you come over?”

“Okay, be right there,” she says, but it feels like not enough warning before she arrives, freshly showered, swimming in sweats and dripping water everywhere.

“Okay,” she says determinedly, sizing up the situation, a battle plan already hatched. “So I’ll get the treats to lure him to us and calm him down. Then I’ll grab him and you go and clip his nails.”

As a plan it comes together fairly well, but even Tifa can’t keep Dipper completely immobile, ferociously kicking out at both of them.

But somehow, with their life in near peril, it’s easier for Cloud to get over himself and all the things that hold him back. “Sorry,” he says when Dipper’s claws make contact with her wrist. “You okay?”

“Yeah, of course.” She smiles, shifting to show him her wrist. “He only skimmed me.”

“No,” he says, attention still fixed on the job before him. “Sorry I called you over so suddenly. I shouldn’t have put this on you.”

“Oh. Well, it’s okay. It’s nice not to be alone sometimes, you know?”

“Yeah.” And he thinks he does, even when being alone has come so naturally to him for so long. He’s leaned into the inclination over the years, but he also remembers it was not originally by choice—maybe just a coping mechanism. “So do you want to stay? I mean, after this? We can have some dinner. On me.”

Her eyes crinkle, looking down to hide her smile. “As long as you’re not cooking.” Which turns out to be a bit of a mistake because Dipper seizes the opportunity to get a good swipe at her face.

Tifa doesn’t loosen her grip in the least, but she does startle when Cloud leans closer in concern and that’s when Dipper makes his escape.

“Cloud…” she says. “Don’t worry, it doesn’t really hurt.”

“Not now maybe, but what if it heals badly?” he replies and won’t let her go until he’s cleaned the cut thoroughly.

Then it’s just the two of them, kneeling close on the floor, knees touching and no pretense left between them. And still neither of them move, hesitating with some kind of anticipation.

“You know,” Tifa says searchingly, “I didn’t know what to make of it—you getting a cat. Owning one is no small thing.” But Cloud hasn’t a clue what she’s searching for until she spells it out for him, “It’s something that’ll tie you down, more than anything.”

“Maybe I could use more of things like that,” he admits, thinking that his cat, menace and all, has done real good for him and even his mental health, giving him some kind of a routine and companionship to build his day around.

“Yeah?” Tifa asks, eyes bright.

“Yeah,” he answers and their first kiss is a poor one, both of them too caught up in a smile. But Tifa comes closer, pressing into him until they lose themselves to that exact closeness, exchanging one kiss for the next until they’re half leaning against the sofa. Tifa shifts again, climbing over him until they fall to the floor with a thud.

Hair standing on edge, outraged and surprised, Dipper jumps at them, and they only narrowly manage to roll away in time. Tifa can’t move afterwards, laughing so hard into his shoulder she cries.

“I think your murder cat was a really great idea,” she says.

“Glad you think so,” Cloud says, sizing up the cat who is already glaring back.

And sure enough she gets him to like her back in time, Dipper even seeming to prefer cuddling up to Tifa at night instead. Cloud only minds a little. It’s hard to argue when really he thinks the cat has got the right of it.


End file.
